The proliferation of communication networks, e.g., the Internet, has enabled customers to perform transactions with vendors from any location where the customer has access to a computer coupled to a communication network. Such transactions have also allowed the vendors to shift the performance of tasks previously required of the vendor (or an authorized agent thereof) to customers. One such task includes, for example, the printing of value documents to evidence that a transaction has occurred. Such documents could include, for example, event tickets, e.g., sporting events, movies, concerts, shows, etc., lottery tickets, airline tickets, receipts, gift certificates, or magazine articles or other literature for which only one print has been authorized. These documents typically have a substantial, intrinsic value that may be presented by any bearer to gain admittance or exercise an entitlement. Since such documents may have substantial cash value, there exists a continuing problem of preventing the printing of fraudulent documents.
As noted above, some vendors give their customers the option of printing such documents at home using ordinary paper, a personal computer printer and an Internet connection. One problem with this situation is preventing the printing of counterfeit documents by reprinting a document previously printed (referred to as a replay attack) or printing the same document simultaneously on multiple printers (referred to as a parallel attack). Each of these situations can result in the printing of fraudulent documents, for which the vendor has not been properly compensated.
Thus, there exists a need for improving the security of the printing process of documents evidencing a transaction to prevent the printing of fraudulent documents.